Front wheel drive



ug- 13, 11935 R. F, DEVI-:NER ET A1. 2,63%355 FRONT WHEEL DRIVE Filed March 14, 1951 `4 Sheets-Sheet l 4 aum Aug. 13, 1935. R. F. DEVENER ET AL FRONT WHEEL DRIVE Filed March 14, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 wumtozs Zfevener Aug. 13, w35. R. F. DEVENER ET AL FRONT WHEEL DRIVE Filed March 14, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 RJVL@ vener R. F. DEVENER ET AL FRONT WHEEL DRIVE Filed March 14, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I xllllllllll mmmm ni Patented Aug. 13, 1935 ff UNITED STAT 'o l y 2,911,355

FRONTv WHEEL `DRIVE vRaymond F. Devener and `ltcloard vHarper Sheppard, Hanover, Pa. v o c Application March 14, 1931, Serial No. 522,770

ionciaims. (C1. 74-32'6) This invention relates v to automobile transmission particularly to the reduction and differential gearing' of automobiles of which the two front Wheels are drivingr wheels as Well as steering vwheels and wherin the entiretransmission is arranged forwardly of the engine;

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of gearing for an automobile of the type stated, in which the parts are so arranged that the over-all distance from the rear of the engine to the far or front end of the drive is reduced to a minimum in order not only to make more'room available'for the passengers in a car of a given wheel base but also to improve most materially the general configuration and pleasing effect of the automobile as viewed from the side.

A further object of the invention is so to construct and position the ring gear of the differential that it will be directly engaged by a second speed drive pinion'as well as by the usual high speed drive pinion, thereby permitting the primary and secondary shafts to be parallel and in the same horizontal plane, in such manner utilizling to the best advantage the space which is available f .or the Vreduction gearing, also as a matter of fact somewhat simplifying the construction.

Other and further objects of the invention have to do with the specific arrangement of the various shafts and gears, all tending to a simplification of the mechanism, ease of access for adjustment without disassembling the entire mechanism, and a more convenient and sturdier mounting of the various shafts including particularly thearrangement of the shafts in parallel relation both horiz'ontally Aand vertically.` v In the drawingsz v o A Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken in a plane containing the axes of the clutch, primary and secondary shafts as well as the two front axles. Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on a plane above all ofthe gearing but showing the housing in cross section.

Figure 3 is a front elevation indicating the relative positions of, the shaft axes.

l 4Figure l is a side elevation. l Figure 5 is a transversek vertical section thru the transmission. Y

j For some reason most workers in this art, instead of designing a transmission specifically intended for front Wheel drive; have attempted to modify some ordinary rear Wheel drive in such fashion that it can beinstalled forwardly of the engine but obviously these transmissions of fconventional rear ldrive type interfere seriously with the efliciency of the cooling system of for ytheylocate the engine fan and the radiator at a point entirely too; far from theengine.`

vThe conventional rear drives, if not" altered, are

unsuited for thefront 'wheel drives, `which Iun- Es 4PATENTV OFFICE] the engine doubtedly will become standard practice in a very v few years, because of the lack of space available. The proposalto increase thewheel base has not Vvmet with approval because under these circumstanceseither the wheel base is so long as to make the car appear very awkward, orthe engine must protrude into thedrivers space and this will interfere with convenience in` driving. A For these various reasons it seems almost essential that the front wheel drive, to be successful,

must depart materially `from rear wheel ypractice and must be designed alongdiiferent lines from the conventional rear wheeLdrives now in use.

By doubling the ring `gear of'the differential and having this member simultaneously mesh with both the primary and secondary vshafts and installing above these 'two shafts other cooperating shafts the Wheel base can be kept easily within such length as to improve rather than detract from the pleasing lines of the car as a whole.

Referring now particularly to Figure l, the housing consists of a transmission housing Ill bolted to and forwardly of the .engine housing Il, a` differential housing l2 forming the'larger part of the front section, a carrier `Ill-which is a bowl-like member secured to the vfront Aflat face `of the differential housing by means of boltsl I6 and is itself closed by a cap Il vof oval shape, which may readily be taken off, for inspection and adjustment of the parts, by removalof the bolts I8. i

The transmission housing I0 has a central vertical partition 20 dividingtthis housinginto a clutch chamber 2| at the rear f andv a; transmission chamber 22, the latter being the central chamber of the complete housing, the forwarder differential chamber 23 being closed at its rear by a Vertical partition 24 which is an integral part of the differential housing l2 and the fr ontr part of this chamber 23 is ,closed by the carrier and the cap, the two ends beingA formed by cylindrical extensions 25 and 26. extending llaterally crank shaft 3D bythe bolts 3l and therefore,v

being to all intents and purposes an integral part of the shaft 30 receiving its sole support from the bearings 'of that shaftv andpreferably carrying a gear'32" designed to mesh with some stand- L:si

Y propeller shaft 32.

ard form of `electrical starting device, the latter 'forming no part of this invention.

Thepropeller or clutch shaft 32 is mounted at its rear end in an anti-friction bearing 33 carried by the ily whee1'28 and on this shaft 32 is mounted a hub 34 carrying a clutch disk 35 which is caused to rotate with the ily wheel 28 by means of the conventional disk type clutch f plate 36 when the latter is in the-position shown,

that is, When'the pressure levers 39 are pressing the plate 36 with the full strengthv of the' spring 40 which is shown as fully expanded, the rear end resting against the clutch cover which during driving rotates with the fly wheel, and .thel

front end of the spring 40 has urged the release sleeve 4| into driving position. full pressure of the clutch plate 36 against the clutch disk- 35 is regulatediby rotating the clutch-e cover 31 with respect to the cam surfaces43 of the clutch plate so that as the clutch diskfbe comes worn new adjustments can readily be When the driver depresses theclutch pedal (not shown) the release bearing` 44 moves backward, that is,.t o the right as seenin this ligure,

' and this action moves the release sleeve 4| in the same direction, compressing the spring 40, moving the long arms of the pressure levers 39 rearwardlywhile moving the shorter'clutch plate engaging Yarms forwardly, thereby freeing` the Vclutch disk 35 fromengagement with eitherthe clutch plate 36 or the frictionv surface carried by the ily wheel 28 so that, as is standard in devices of this'kind, the engine and ily wheel vcanrotate without transmitting motion to the clutch shaft 32. y

H Considering now the middle or transverse chamber 22 withY its rear wall 29' and its front Wall" 21|V which latter includes a rearwardly extendinghollowhub v46 made suiiiciently lstrong tov receive the spaced ball or roller bearings whichdirectly, support the primary shaft and indirectly, thru theV anti-friction bearings '48,. support the forwardend of the clutchor The primary shaft has near its rear end a low speed gear` 5| "thehub 52 of which is counterboredto receive the antie'friction `bearing 48 and is internally toothed'or grooved 'as at 53 so as to mesh lWith-cooperating teeth 'or grooves 54 on the sliding high speed clutch fwhich latter on itsperiphery carries a series ofv annularV teeth 56.which are constantlyin mesh Vwith a hand crankdrive gear |22 located directfly above, and not shown in this figure but 'is show'n in Figs. 2; 3 and14. i

.f The annulargroove' 58 inv-.clutch 55 is engaged by a fork, not shown, on the hand control lever'so lthat this gear 55, which isfslidable. on the 'clutch-'shaft 32, Vmay be moved` forwardly fromr its idle position shown, intoy engagement withv the extensions which carry'the teeth 53 so aste lock the primary and clutch yshafts together. v Fast tol'the clutch shaft 32 behind the high 'speed'clutch 55 isl a somewhat smaller gear, the

transmission main drive pinion 60, constantly vrin mesh with the transmission driven gear 6|' to be described later. Within the differential oha'mber 23v and fast on the reduced end ofthe primary shaft 50 extendingintosuchschaxnber is the h igh speed drive pinion 62, which pinion transmitspower to the differential in both. high and-llow gear as well as-in reverse.

' The 'T secondary shaft .63? isl somewhat longer n. tlfiani the Yprimary ShaftA 50, liesl parallelv to it -With its axis -'in the' samehorizontalplane, is

'mounted' inA the parallel partitionfwalls V24T and 20!v byv thelroller on ball. bearlngsf65-:and1 `6.6 Are'-` The *extent of spectively, and carries between these bearings We much prefer to have integral with the shaft. A blind cap 69 within. the clutch of fiy wheel chamber 2| permits ready removal, and insertion of the secondary shaft in place. yAltho the secondary shaft 63 supports the transmission driven gear 5| which is constantly in meshr with the Va second-speed driven clutch member 68 which gear 6U fast on the clutch shaft, the secondary shaft itselfy does not revolve with it except upon sliding movement of the low speed sliding clutch y vsleeve 10, here shown as in neutral position.

Upon ball or roller bearings 1| on secondary shaft 63fis mounted the integral hub14 extending forwardly from the transmissionv driven geai` 6|, the latter slidingly carrying the clutch sleeve -lwh'ich constantly rotates with the `gear 6| and which may be moved rearwardly from the position kshown, in which case the integral clutch member-68 on the secondary shaft is in engage- `ment with'the internal` clutch teeth 15 on the clutch sleeve 10.. Uponmovement ofthe clutch 10 in the opposite` direction, thatis. forwardly, the teeth 16 at the rear of the sleevefme'shwith the teeth on the low speed driven gear 5|, such movement ofthe clutch sleeve y1|l.beingl affected vby engagement of the fork,.not shown, yof the hand controlled lever in lthe annular groovejf of the clutch sleeve 1li.l

Atthe forward and reduced: end ofthe secondary shaft 63- is a drivepinion 80 similar to-"and interchangeable with. the pinion 62 andlikeit positioned within the differentialv chamber 23.

The pinionv 80,'however, isra'drive 4member only when thetransmission mechanism is in` 'second :i

gear altho thispinion and the secondary shaft..l on which it is mounted constantly revolve whenever primary shaft 56 is turning.

From the carrier I4 extend rearwardly two cages 12 and 12 within which are conical roller bearings 13 uponv which are mounted the differential jassembly11which` carries the two interchangeable. ring. gears 18. andv y19high and second respectively, which gears are so spaced back to back that they correctly engage .thepinl ions 62 vand 80 respectively, the adjustmentr being Securedvby means of shims 8|.thru. which. and

the differential assembly itself must-be positioned withlgreat accuracy and` to this end we'provid'e the differential bearing adjusting nuts 82 and -83 vthe two ring gears are passed the retaining bolts 8|. Not only must theldistance apart of the'two back-to-back ring gears be exactly regulated but which centralize the differential'between the high and-secondirspeed pinions 62 and v80.

Within the differential assemblyare the diifevff ential side gears 86 and 81 each having theusual sidegear thrust washers88. Ascustomayhese diiferentialside gears areV each internally splined to, receive and support i theY correspondingly y grooved portions'of the opposed inner ends ofthe front axles 89 eachmounted.` near athelfar; end in anti-friction bearings 90 vin the inturned, hub

ofV a barrel shaped portionv25V or 26-of the '.fd'ifferential housing. Beyond .these bearings 88 at u will befremembered, shows primarily the mecha- |02 which need not revolve but upon which is slidably and rotatably mounted a wide gear |03 shown in the figure as in neutral but which 4may be caused tol slide rearwardly by means of the reverse fork, not shown, lwhich 'engages thev annular groove |04 so as to cause gear |03 to mesh with the rather large diameter transmission driven gear 6| directly below it. Upon such movement of the operating lever the idle gear |03 revolves ywith the clutch` shaft 32 and since this idle gear |03 is at all times in mesh with gear |05 fast upon shaft |06, gear |01, also upon that shaft, is revolved and this latter gear, |01, is constantly in mesh with low speed gear 5| which is an integral part of primary shaft 50.

Shaft |06 is mounted in anti-friction bearings |08 in the vertical wall 20 at the rear and at the front in similar bearings |09 in bracket ||0 extending downwardly from the top wall of the transmission housing I0. It is thruA these gears just described that we obtain a reverse drive, the complete train being as follows: crank shaft 30, clutch disk 35, clutch shaft 32, gear 60 fast on shaft 32, gear 6| rotatably mounted on secondary shaft 63, idle gear |03 directly above gear 6|, members |05, |06 and |01 which always rotate together, and low speed gear 5I which does not lie directly below gear |01 but, as will be seen from Figure 5, lies below but to the left of this gear and its shaft. The train then continues thru primary shaft 50, and pinion 62 to the ring gear of the differential.

For normal starting the gear 32 is used but we have provided vconvenient hand starting mechanism consisting of a shaft mounted in bearings ||2 and ||3. The shaft is normally pressed by a spring H4 engaging a collar ||5 fast on the shaft so as to present its transverse pin IIB in convenient position to be engaged by the hand crank, to use which the readily detachable cap ||1 is removed. Forward movement of the hand starting shaft under urge of its spring is limited by engagement of the one-way clutch jaw ||8 with bearing H3. This jaw, when the hand starting shaft is moved rearwardly, engages a pin ||9 on shaft |20 mounted in spaced bearings |2| and carrying gear |22 directly above and constantly in mesh with the peripheral teeth 56 on the sliding high speed clutch 55, the latter being very much narrower in a fore and aft direction than is gear |22, thus preserving at all times the meshing relation.

Rotation of the hand starting shaft while it is pressed rearwardly therefore revolves clutch shaft 32, and thru it, the crank-shaft of the rnctor. While differing from usual practice in requiring that the clutch shall be engaged in starting, this offers no disadvantage whatsover since at this time the high speed clutch will -obviously be in the position shown in Figure 1 as will also be the second speed clutch'10, consequently there is no possible chance of the automobile moving yupon the starting of the engine even tho the clutch is'engaged.

What we claim isz- 1. A two-piece housing for close coupled transmission and differential mechanisms in which the transmission mechanism includes longitudinal enclosingA portion having two openends anda transverse vertical wall intermediate said ends, a differential housing portion having a vertical wall transverse of and engaging said transmissionenclosing portion for closing one of said open ends, and bearings for saidv longitudinal shafts located in alined relation in the ltwo vertical walls. i I

2.1m combination, a drive shaft, a differentiall gear, a first driven shaft, a second driven shaft parallel to and spaced from the first driven shaft and coaxial with the drive shaft, a clutch for'at will connecting the drive shaft to the coaxial shaft and means including said clutch for driving the differential gear at high speed from the drive shaft thru said second driven shaft at high speed, a sliding member on the rst driven shaft, means including said member for driving the differential gear at low speed from the drive shaft thru said second driven shaft, and means including said member for driving the differential gear at intermediate speed from thev drive shaft.

3. In a transmission mechanism, two parallel laterally spaced driven shafts in the same horishaft, a second speed driving Wheel on the other shaft, means on both shafts for driving the high shafts, said housing comprising a transmission -zontal plane, a high speed driving wheel on one speed driving wheel vat low speed, and means turning independently of said other shaft and including two parallel shafts both above said horizontal plane, rfor reversing the direction of rotation of one of said driving wheels.

4. In a transmission mechanism, two parallel transverse housing walls, alined anti-friction bearings in the two walls, a shaft extending from one bearing thru the other, carrying on its extended end a driving pinion and carrying between said bearings a clutch, a pair of spaced bearings on said shaft, a gear having ka hub mounted on said pair of bearings, a clutch sleeve splined to said hub and slidable to engage at will the clutch between the bearings.

5. In combination, a drive shaft, a gear constantly driven thereby, a gear slidable into and out of mesh with said gear a driven shaft having a gear fixed thereto, a counter shaft having thereon two fixed gears, one constantly meshing with the driven shaft gear and the other constantly in mesh with said slidable gear.

6. A transmission and differential case of two separable housings, one of which is provided with bearing supports to receive the front ends of solid parallel horizontal shafts, a spaced cylindrical bearing support on said housing to receive a central portion of one of said shafts, a bearing support in the rear wall of the other housing to receive the rear end of the other shaft, differential gearing, and change speed mechanism, including said shafts, meshing with said differential gear- 7. In a transmission mechanism for motor vehicles, the combination with a differential mechanism and a change speed mechanism including a driven shaft, of two separable housings respectively inclosing said mechanisms, a cornmon wall between said housings and integral with the differential housing, and a support for spaced bearings for said driven shaft carried by said wall, and a gear on said shaft on each side of said spaced bearings, said shaft being carried entirely by said spaced bearings.

8. The combination with a drive shaft, of a driven shaft connected thereto by permanently Lmeshed gears, a second driven shaft coaxial with :sol

"gio

fbeing between said gears, .anda third bearing said v4drive :l'shaft :and .clutch .means :for .directly `.connecting it;.thereto, a third driven'. shaft coaxial @with said first Arn'entionedxdriven shaftand .clutch :means for"directly'connecting'said ffirst "and .third i.; 5fdrivenf's`hafts,1said last mentioned clutch4 means .flcarryingia gear'forconnecting said'rst andseciondfdriven shafts. 1 Y

I9. :In za Atransmission1mechanism, a separable ltwo part housing, a wall dividing the housing into .etwa chambers, a pair :of spaced vbearings supvlportedxin said wall, a driven-:fshaftientirely sup- :.po'rtediin said bearings, a gear oneachend,` of said shaftadjacent ythe-fbearings, said bearings .onrriediin` oneend 'of saidshaft `for journaling a =.drive,.'shaft.carried in said housing.

angoug'sus 510. :iIn 'a transmission.: mechanism,wa'separable i two .part rfhousing, A:two 'Y division v'walls vtransverse fof'the housing, `speed change mechanism between thedivisionwalls comprising a :pair of laterally lspaced -parallel yshafts ,journaled in said wallsy;l

one'ofsaidshafts consisting of two coaxial parts,

clutch, 'means for Ydirectly .connecting said. co-

axial ipartsand a second clutchmeanson the -fothertshaft for `connecting the ysame tov one of said :coaxial parts inone position ,and forconnecting the other of said-parallel shaftsto, the

other of said coaxial parts inl driving relation in a second position.

.RAYMQND F. DEVENER., RICHARDl HARPER SHEPPARD.I 

